Tracy Wall of Porter Corners draws a portrait using colored chalk during a regular sketch club gathering on Monday, Oct. 22, 2012, at The Arts Center in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. (Cindy Schultz / Times Union)

Tracy Wall of Porter Corners draws a portrait using colored chalk...

Figure model Gina Marie Cannistraro, center, poses for artists Ginit Marten of Schenectady, left, and Clarence King of South Cambridge during a regular sketch club gathering on Monday, Oct. 22, 2012, at The Arts Center in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. (Cindy Schultz / Times Union)

Figure model Gina Marie Cannistraro, center, poses for artists...

Steve Sanford of South Cambridge does a watercolor portrait of figure model Gina Marie Cannistraro during a regular sketch club gathering on Monday, Oct. 22, 2012, at The Arts Center in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. (Cindy Schultz / Times Union)

During a break, figure model Gina Marie Cannistraro, right, visits with Tracy Wall of Porter Corners, center, as she talks about her art piece during a regular sketch club gathering on Monday, Oct. 22, 2012, at The Arts Center in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. At left is Bruce Hiscock of Porter Corners. (Cindy Schultz / Times Union)

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Gina Marie Cannistraro slid out of her sandals and stepped up onto a blanket-covered wooden platform in the middle of a linoleum-floored classroom, beneath the hot glare of a stage spotlight.

She let a green robe fall to her feet.

Twenty-four eyes focused intensely on her naked form as 12 artists arrayed in a semicircle a few paces away from her — seven men and five women, between the ages of 17 and 70 — began to render their image of Cannistraro with charcoal, pens, pencils and paintbrushes.

Some focused only on Cannistraro's face, a tight-lipped smile, high cheekbones, upturned nose and nimbus of curly brown hair.

Others sketched her breasts and torso and the drape of a purple scarf she tied around her waist in a rare nod to modesty for a photographer. She held the scarf in her outstretched right hand and struck a pose that suggested a Greek goddess.

Cannistraro held that precise pose over the course of the next three hours — aside from a 10-minute break every half-hour — for the Monday night sketch club at the Saratoga Arts Center. Despite having to rub circulation back into a numb wrist, she said it's the best $20-an-hour gig she's ever had.

"I might have had a lousy day at work, but I come here and I start to feel better," said Cannistraro, 34, of Troy, who works full-time as an administrative assistant. She majored in anthropology at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and is a former competitive ballroom dancer who has supplemented her income as a nude figure model for the past 10 years.

"Being still and quiet for so long rejuvenates me," said Cannistraro, a blogger and aspiring author. "Sometimes, I meditate. Or, I might compose my next writing piece in my head. It's very rewarding on an inner level."

Along with art classes at nearly all local colleges and universities, there are a half-dozen private sketch clubs reaching from Hudson to Glens Falls, including Schenectady, Albany, Delmar and Troy. There are more than two dozen nude figure models — men and women of all ages and body types — working across the Capital Region, including at least one woman who makes a full-time living. She worked through her pregnancy.

"It's a good hourly wage and I get to work in a creative environment with interesting artists," said Paul Cronin, of Albany, the most sought-after male model in the area, who often books five or more sessions a week. He started modeling 15 years ago to supplement his income as a piano teacher and a home and office organizer. He is a lean man in his 50s. Getting naked didn't come naturally.

"Exhibitionism isn't my thing and I was reluctant at first," Cronin said. "Once you do it once or twice, what's the big deal?"

In an era of rampant Internet pornography and adult erotic services posted for sale on craigslist, the figure drawing enthusiasts seem anachronistic and chaste by comparison. They are devotees of a throwback art form that has more in common with 15th-century Italian Renaissance artists Botticelli, da Vinci and Michelangelo than the digital smut of Penthouse and Hustler.

"People have a misperception of what this actually is. It's not sexual. It's about making art and the creative process," said Jim Schanz, 55, of Saratoga Springs, an artist who has been hiring models and running the Monday night sketch club at the Saratoga Arts Center for several years. He also has been attending figure drawing sessions in Glens Falls, Troy and Schenectady for more than a decade.

Although the sketch club sessions are open to walk-ins, Schanz has never had to remove anyone for inappropriate behavior. The artists are regulars who come each week. Jealous spouses or boyfriends of models have occasionally become problematic.

"They think the atmosphere is a strip club or there's some kind of erotic aspect to it," Schanz said. "If people actually attended a figure drawing session, they'd be disabused of that motion in the first minute."

On a recent Monday night in Saratoga Springs, Cannistraro held the classical pose as her iPod mix of Norah Jones, Van Morrison and Cat Stevens tunes played softly over a stereo. Neither she nor the artists spoke. The only other sounds were the muted rub and scratch of paintbrush bristles and pencil tips. Artists leaned over their sketch pads and canvases, squinting. The room exuded concentration and intensity.

"The nakedness isn't even an issue," said Tracy Wall, 67, of Saratoga Springs, who trained at the Pratt Institute and who primarily paints landscapes and equine art. She's been coming to the Monday night sketch club for five years and considers Cannistraro a top model because she holds poses so well.

Meredith Shorb, 26, of Saratoga Springs, who works as a yoga teacher and in a lingerie shop, understood the demands of Cannistraro's work. She once fainted when she tried to model for money and stopped. Now, she draws nude female studies with a fine point ink pen.

"The easiest part is to be naked," Shorb said. "Holding a pose is really hard. I think every artist should be a model to get an appreciation of the effort that goes into it."

"I'm trying to learn the proportions of the body, the shadows and line," said Vanhall, who listened to D'Andrea's instruction before she touched charcoal to sketch pad. "It's not about the individual person. The human form is the most challenging subject. A bowl of fruit is just a bowl of fruit."

"People contribute to the arts in many ways," D'Andrea said. "Being a model is one of the most important ways."

Artist Norman Strite, 77, of Albany, has hired dozens of models while running sketch clubs over the past 30 years. He has never had to toss an artist for sketchy behavior, although he has had to ask obese models not to return.

"It's hard to tell a model they're too heavy for the job, but the artist has to be able to see ribs and a little anatomy," said Strite, who runs a class in Delmar and the Riverfront Artists, who meet at Union College in Schenectady.

Strite's cadre of 15 artists has dwindled to about half that number due to old age, infirmity and death. A majority who remain are in their 70s and 80s.

"The nudity is second nature to an artist who sees two or three nudes a week," Strite said. "Some of these new burlesque shows bother me. It cheapens the art."

Strite referenced an alternative drawing movement led by Dr. Sketchy's, begun by two artists in a Brooklyn bar in 2005. It's a combination of burlesque and a hipster bar scene, with no art experience required. There are Dr. Sketchy's clubs in more than 100 cities, including Northampton, Mass. Dr. Sketchy's offers the chance to sketch "underground performers in an atmosphere of boozy conviviality."

Locally, a group dubbed Pasties, Pencils & Pints has a Facebook page inviting artists and non-artists to an event Nov. 15 in Troy. They call themselves "the 518's own sassy-life-model-drink-n-draw."

"I'm not a big fan of that because I consider figure drawing the most challenging art form," said Ed Ticson, of Cohoes, who has taught figure drawing for 13 years privately and at local colleges. "I make it clear to my students that we're here for artistic purposes. Nudity is part of our artistic language and we take it very seriously."

Cannistraro has been finding new modeling challenges, including sessions for software developers at Vicarious Visions, the video game creator in Menands best known for "Guitar Hero."

"The level of talent there just blew me away," said she said. "Everyone I've met modeling has been professional and respectful. It's a great gig. I plan to keep doing it as long as I'm able to hold a pose."